Students with Handwriting Problems

Graham and Harris (2005) recommend that young students with handwriting problems should be provided with supplemental instruction.

Four-step sequence that focuses on writing lowercase letters accurately and fluently.

  • Alphabet warm-up. The students practice naming, matching, and sequencing alphabet letters.

  • Alphabet practice. The students practice writing unit letters in isolation.

  • Alphabet rockets. The students repeatedly write a sentence containing unit letters during a 3-minute time frame, and the students record the number of letters written.

  • Alphabet fun. The teacher models how to make a unit letter in a funny way.


from - Teaching Students with Learning Problems, 8th Edition, Cecil D. Mercer; Ann R. Mercer; Paige C. Pullen (2011)

Writing Instruction


Sentence writing strategy

P- Pick a sentence type and formula
E-Explore words to fit the formula
N-Note the words
S-Search for verbs and subjects, and check

Paragraph writing strategy

P-Pick a topic, an audience, and the appropriate textual format
L-List information about the topic to be used in sentence generation, ongoing evaluation, and organizational planning
E- Evaluate whether the list is complete and plan how to organize the ideas that will be used to generate supporting sentences
A- Activate the paragraph with a short and simple declarative topic sentence
S- Supply supporting sentences based on items from the list
E- End with a concluding sentence that rephrases the topic sentence, and evaluate the written work for errors in capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and appearance.

Reviewing strategy

C- Capitalization
O-Overall appearance
P- Proper punctuation
S- Spelling

Opinion Paper

D- Develop a position statement
A- Add supporting arguments
R- Report and refute counter arguments
E- End with a strong conclusion

Narratives

S- Setting elements
P- Problems
A- Actions
C- Consequences
E- Emotions

Themes and reports

T- Think
O- Organize it
W- Write a draft
E- Evaluate it
R- Refine it

Appearance

H- Heading
O- Organized
W- Written Neatly